The X-Files: Dining With a Devil (10x02)
by espresso651
Summary: [Sequel to Beyond The Truth 10x01] Skinner, Doggett, and Reyes split up to meet with some unexpected familiar faces, as the Bounty Hunter attempts to cover-up the events of the previous episode.
1. Introduction

The X-Files 10x02 – Dining With a Devil

Disclaimer: The names, addresses, locations, emails, URLs, web sites, and software mentioned in this are fictional. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or other details is coincidental.

Introduction

It has been many years since I wrote Beyond The Truth. It was always intended to be the first-half of a two-part mythology episode intended to transition Season 9 to the second movie. A few times I tried to continue to story, but never had the idea of how to pick it back up while making it a satisfying X-File.

One thing that's been on my mind is that survival of Cancer Man in the revival of the series, and how despite being welcome, it was heavily criticized as his manner of death was quite definitive. I found my answer, however, in coming up with a story arc that takes Beyond The Truth and links it to the new Revival episodes.

So now, the second episode of my unofficial X-Files 10th Season: Dining With a Devil.


	2. Teaser

Previously, on The X-Files:

After a decade of work, Fox Mulder's investigation into a government conspiracy was ended when he was framed for the murder of Knowle Rohrer. He was placed on a secret tribunal held by the military and the FBI, where his last hope was to present his body of work in his defense. This failed, leaving Mulder sentenced to death, only to be aided in escape by Deputy Director Kersh.

Mulder and Scully have since gone into hiding somewhere in Europe, avoiding the reach of the FBI and the conspirators themselves.

Months later, a new FBI director has launched an investigation into the tribunal at the insistence of AD Skinner. For this assignment, agent Monica Reyes has been assigned a new partner to investigate corruption within the FBI itself. Meanwhile, a strange shooting of a police officer in New Orleans uncovered correspondence between the webmaster of a conspiracy-themed website and someone in France who may be Agent Mulder. With the help of John Doggett, Reyes tries to find Mulder and Scully to warn them that their location has been compromised.

Teaser

April 5, 2003, 10:36 PM, New Orleans, Louisiana.

In a jail cell, some voices are singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. A few bars down, another man is bawling while curled up on the floor of his cell. He is shaking while repeating "Hail Mary, full of grace…" over and over. It is the passenger who was arrested a few days prior.

Walking down the block is a man of the cloth, with frazzled gray hair. He is carrying an enormous book in his hands, but other than the cold sound of his feet, he is entirely silent. He's unremarkable in his unremarkableness, as though he's trying not to be conspicuous. Among a den of thieves and killers, however, he looks like one of their own.

"He's this way." The guard says. The guard leads the priest to the cell with the crying passenger inside.

"Leave us. This will not take long."

The guard, strangely, does not argue. He just opens the cell door, leaves it unlocked, and walks away.

The crying man looks up with his eyes, but keeps his head down. "Come to read me the final rites?"

The priest says nothing.

"It was for God and Country. That's all I did it for. I am not a traitor."

"Of course you are a traitor, my son. Just not to your God and your Country."

"Huh? You want me to make a confession to you? I will."

"That is the last thing I want."

The priest opens the book, which was hollowed out to hold a stiletto. From outside the cell, the crying turned into screaming and wailing, then a loud thud. Finally, pure silence. Someone resumed singing Swing Low, and the priest walks out of the cell, covered in blood. He turns a corner, goes out a backdoor and changes his face into that of the Bounty Hunter. He walks away from the jail calmly.

The guard walks back over to the open cell. Inside, he sees the prisoner hanging by a bloody bedsheet.

"Son of a bitch!" he yells.


	3. Act I

Act I

April 7, 9:10 AM, Milton, Vermont

It was a quiet Sunday morning at the park. Doggett sat on a bench, waiting. He checked his watch, it was past nine already. Where was Scully? Down the street, a car was parked with two people inside. Agent Reyes in the driver's seat, and Tolson in the back. Reyes was using her cell phone to check an email address she had set up the day before. There was a message, from trustnoone . Two simple words. "What rendezvous?"

She fell back in her seat.

"Agent Reyes? What's wrong?" Tolson asked her.

"Nothing, just keep your eyes on John."

"Monica. We're a team. What's happening?"

"Agent Reyes. Something isn't right, and I think we need to keep a close eye on John Doggett right now."

"I got you." Suddenly, Tolson got out of the car, and walked toward some bushes.

"What are you…doing?"

He was gone before she could speak. Tolson moved into position to watch Doggett as a woman approached his direction. His gun was undrawn.

Doggett was getting worried. He muttered to himself "damn it Scully. Where are you…" where no one could hear. He was startled when a voice spoke from behind him.

"Hello, John." He turned, and did not see the woman he expected to see. Behind him was Shannon McMahon.

"Shannon?"

"We've got a lot to talk about."

"I bet. You want to start by explaining why I was expecting Dana Scully?"

"That's your problem, John. But you know I've left you alone, and I wouldn't call on you if it wasn't urgent."

"Alright, I'm listening."

She stopped moving for a moment. "So who's your friend?"

"Excuse me?"

"The man with the gun in the bushes."

"What are you talking about?" He looked and saw for himself. "Oh, the hell is he doing?"

"I didn't tell you to come alone. I told you to trust no one. Do you trust him?"

"Honestly, Shannon? I don't know the guy."

"Interesting. Book a room, when you're ready to talk I will find you."

"What, all this and I have to wait? Suddenly I'm not worth the time?"

"Loose lips, John. But I have to wonder what you were thinking would happen, if something happened to Knowle."

"Magnetite prices go through the roof?"

Shannon give a half-grin and turned away.

Now Tolson sprang to action, his gun pointed out.

"Are you Dana Scully?"

"Are you a dumbass?" She responded.

"Agent Doggett?" He nodded toward her.

"What do you think you're trying to do? Don't even bother with the gun."

"I'm watching your back."

"My back is fine, it's your trigger finger I'm worried about. But hey, knock yourself out, shoot her right in the face. Go on."

Shannon smirked at Tolson, then walked away from him.

"Agent Scully, I am a federal agent and I am ordering you-"

"She's not Scully, get that through your thick helmet of a skull!"

"Then who is she? Who are you, miss?"

"I am no one. Just a figment of your imagination. Goodbye, John."

"Don't tell me we came all this way so you could have a hookup. Tell me why I'm not going after her."

"Because that's not your job."

"And it's not yours either, _Mr._ Doggett."

"You're right. It's not. I don't know what I'm doing here either. Now put that damn thing away."

"Fine. Now who was that?"

Doggett is ignoring him.

"Where is Monica?"

"Agent Reyes, she's in the car."

"No she's not."

Across the park, Reyes was walking away while using her phone. She was sending an email.

Subject: No Redezvous?

What do you mean? Is D in danger? Are you and your partner safe? We were told to meet with S at a rendezvous.

She got a reply.

 _Someone is setting you up. You need to get out of there. Trust no one._

She turned around and went back toward where the car was. And the car was gone.

April 7, 12:02 PM, Wilkes Memorial Hospital, New York City

"Assistant Director." The Agent said as a man in a suit walked by, and let him into Skinner's hospital room. Skinner was in bad shape, still a big under from the previous night's surgery. The visit from another AD was unexpected.

"Hey, I didn't order room service." He said. Then watched in horror as the face changed before his eyes. He was looking at the Bounty Hunter.

"Don't call for help. You know it won't do any good."

"If you're here to take me out, you know I don't go out that easy. One hit, base of the neck, that's all it takes."

"If you want it that difficult. I wasn't sent here to kill."

"Oh no?"

"No."

The Bounty Hunter put his hands on Skinner's arms, pinning him down, then as he did a warm energy flowed and Skinner felt the surgery undoing itself, as well as the gunshot wound healing. This Bounty Hunter wasn't there to kill him, he was there to save him.

"What's your game here, Bounty Hunter?" It occurred to him that no one of probably called him that before.

"You live. There are men, great men, who want to meet you. Again."

"Don't they ever just die?"

"Get up. Get your clothes. We walk."

"Like hell."

The Bounty Hunter just stood there. Then he pulled the IV from Skinner's arm, healed the wound, and stepped back with his hands folded.

"You won't leave until I do?"

Silence.

"Fine. Let me just…"

Suddenly, Skinner was behind him, jamming the IV needle into his neck.

The green ooze poured, and Skinner's eyes burned as he started to cough. He made a rush for the door but the Bounty Hunter pulled him down to the floor.

"I can let you die, and no one will say a word. You mean nothing to me. Now come, follow me."

Even though the needle punctured his neck, it wasn't deep enough. The Bounty Hunter was no worse for wear, but Skinner's face and eyes were red.

The Bounty Hunter changed his appearance back to that of the other Assistant Director, then he and Skinner walked out of the room. They went down the hall, to another room on the other end of the hospital where a new patient was being admitted. There were guards around him as well, but the guards didn't acknowledge the two men approaching.

Skinner walked into the room, while the Bounty Hunter stayed outside. He saw a head wrapped in cloth, hooked up to all kinds of machinery. A man on death's door.

"Okay, what the hell is-" He started saying, then froze as he watched a nurse light a cigarette, and insert it into the body's trach.

"Oh Hell no, you've got to be kidding me."


	4. Act II

Act II

April 7, 12:43 PM, Wilkes Memorial Hospital, New York City

The man in the bed coughed with the cigarette in place. His face was concealed, but Skinner knew who it was right away. He knew the presence of the man who used to hover his desk, watch his every move, and never knew when to put out a Morley. The Cancer Man himself, alive, more or less. How was that even possible?

"You son of a bitch, I ought to pull the plug on you." He said to the body.

"He can't answer you. Not yet." The nurse said.

"I'm through wanting answers from that thing."

"He's not dead, Mr. Skinner." A man said. "He is fully awake, but he's got a long way to go."

"It's impossible. He ate a missile, nobody can survive that."

"And how is your shoulder doing, Mr. Skinner?"

"My shoulder?"

"Your shoulder. An hour ago you had a hole in it, and from what I hear through the old grapevine, a nasty little infection starting. I assume that's all taken care of."

"I didn't take a missile to the shoulder."

"No, you did not. But, Mr. Skinner, some things about your kind heal…easily. It could be that your friend here will never really heal."

"That's not my friend."

"There's been a change in plans, and now you are going to hear me out. Are you hungry, Mr. Skinner?"

"I'd rather puke."

"We'll get you a soup and sandwich anyway."

"Shove it. We're through here."

"No! WE ARE NOT THROUGH!" The man's face was covered in fury. "I mean, you will hear us out. Nothing more. Then you go back to your life like nothing happened. But until then, get comfortable. I think we can get some words out of our friend here."

Skinner looked at the lifeless lump on the bed. It had to be some kind of crazy trick, there is no way that it was the Cancer Man. The nurse gave it another puff of its cigarette.

April 7, 2:05 PM, Milton, Vermont

The phone rang suddenly, and Monica Reyes answered. "Agent Reyes."

"Monica. I want to talk." It was an old, familiar voice that made her want to retch.

"Brad?"

"Yes. I wanted to talk to you. In person."

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Of course. You would say that. But I don't forget things, and I wanted you to understand."

"I understand what two-faced scum you are."

"Monica, I'm going to set it all right. If you talk to me. Can you get here tonight?"

"I don't think…"

"No, you think. You always think. And you should be thinking. I've made a lot of mistakes. Don't let you be my last one. For one last time, for crying out loud. Meet me."

"I…I have to think about it."

"Do that. I will see you."

She hung up without another word.

There was another email.

 _I know you mean well, but go home. Drop whatever it is you are on. Don't let it be you next._

What kind of devil would possess him to tell her to give up?

April 7, 2:35 PM, Shining Star Café, Milton, Vermont

Doggett was gazing into a black cup of coffee, musing to himself about something. Tolson walked up and sat next to him, returning from the bathroom.

"Deep thoughts for a deep man?" Tolson asked.

"Something Monica told me about coffee. If you turn the cup just right, you can see the future. Do you believe that crap?"

"Honestly, I would rather just not drink the stuff."

"It's something about energies and reflecting light. She said it was like how Nostradamus saw things."

"Uh-huh."

"I keep looking through, trying to figure out why I am even here and why Monica ran off. Do you know what I see?"

"No idea."

"A crappy black cup of coffee." He took a big swig of it.

"So Monica, Agent Reyes, she's kooky like that?"

"She's a damn good agent. You can put your life in her hands."

"But I mean, the UFOs, the cults, psychic coffee cups…"

"Tolson, there's stuff in this world I don't want to believe. But I have seen things you would never understand, and of all of the people in this world you can put your trust into, there's Monica Reyes. She will never break that trust, and would never go to the other side."

"What other side?"

"You don't have a clue, do you? When I was on The X-Files…"

"UFO Chasing."

"Real field work. When I was on The X-Files, we found some hair-raising stuff, Agent. People aren't always what they appear to be, some of them are even…"

"Alien."

"Your words, Agent Tolson."

"Yeah well I watched ET as a kid, too. But this is grown-up land now, and sure there's something screwy-as-hell happening, but it sure ain't little green men."

"Gray. Or black, sometimes."

"Incredible. Whatever, your words, Mr. Doggett."

"Don't believe, that's fine. I don't care. It's not my job to care. After this is over, I am out for good, and you never have to see me again. I honestly can't wait."

"That what your coffee is telling you?"

"It's telling me you pointed a gun at someone thinking it was Dana Scully, and I never said anything about her. Which tells me a lot about you."

"That Scully is a fugitive harboring a convicted murderer, even though we're investigating the validity of all that? She still has to be brought in."

"Tolson, you have no idea what you are dealing with here. Nobody's bringing in Scully, or Mulder. Not if I have anything to do with it."

"I do my job."

"And if that means what you make it sound like you mean, then you've just made a dangerous enemy here, Mr. Tolson."

"The FBI investigates. We're not some sinister plot involved in some conspiracy."

"That's exactly what you are."

"Where, then, is the proof?"

"You tell me."

"Well this is going nowhere."

"Who you answer to, Agent Tolson?"

"What?"

"You heard me. You're awful chummy with the Director, you're the FBI's bright boy, and how? Who is backing you up? Torino, or something bigger?"

"How dare-"

"How dare I? Tell me why you are pulling a gun on a stranger and getting the Assistant Director shot?"

"Screw you, Mr. Doggett! To think, Kersh spoke highly of you."

"Kersh. That's all I needed to know."

"Wow. You know what? Good luck getting home, I have a case to investigate and you've kept me off it too long here. Have a nice walk to New York City."

Doggett made a rude gesture.

The waitress came up to the bar with a carafe of coffee. "That didn't sound friendly."

"Doesn't matter. He's not my problem."

"More?"

"Of course."


	5. Act III

Act III

April 7, 9:21 PM, New York City

Reyes is outside of a cell, with a stern look on her face. A guard is behind her. Inside the cell is a familiar face, former assistant director Follmer. He looks broken and seems to have aged fifteen years.

"My God, Brad." She says, seeing him.

"Monica, you came. It's great to see you again."

She's silent.

"I get that. So a little bird tells me you're investigating a matter involving the Torino mob." He said.

"What gives you that idea?"

"Like I said, a little bird. Listen, tomorrow I am going before the judge. I am going to change my plea. No more bull."

"You are pleaing guilty? Did you suddenly grow a conscience?"

"I always had one. Maybe one day you can understand. Sometimes you dine with a devil, Monica, because it is the right thing to do."

"That's a crock, Brad."

"No, it's truth. Someday it might even be you."

"You were bought, don't pretend it was something noble."

"Noble? Do you know the lives I saved?"

"How many did you kill?"

"A lot. My hands aren't clean. But it was for a greater good. It goes deeper than you could ever think. These men, the ones who paid me off, aren't who you think."

"What are you talking about?"

"They ambushed you, didn't they? Why would they go after the FBI?"

Silence.

"They were bought, too. They work for something I never uncovered. Something I might have shared with you, so you could be the one to expose it. But now, if I don't talk, it's for nothing."

"Then who are they?"

"I don't know."

"Then why am I still listening to you?"

"I will make a statement. I want you there, here, tomorrow morning. Bring a recorder, take notes. I will tell everything."

"Fine. Guard, I'm done here."

"Monica, stay safe."

As Reyes leaves, a priest walks in. A chill goes down her spine, something isn't right. She stops.

The priest walks right past the officers, toward the cell block. A guard waves him in.

Reyes goes up to the desk. "Did you just see a man walk in here?"

"No, ma'am."

"Dressed like a priest?"

"Haven't seen anyone but you." He was working on a crossword puzzle and didn't even look up at her.

Suddenly, a series of screams was heard from the cells. Reyes puts out her weapon and runs in, holding up her badge.

Follmer was dead in his cell, blood everywhere. The priest was nowhere to be found, but the guard was walking away calmly.

"Oh God, what happened here?" Looking at Brad, she feels a sudden sense of remorse. Looking at his body, she sees a puncture on the base of his neck. A familiar thing, from many X-Files, but on a human? This was unusual. But she was certain, this was an alien weapon. Follmer was assassinated, and the assassin could be anyone in the jail.

"I want this place on lockdown. We've got a murder of an FBI official, and the perpetrator is still in this room."

A lockdown is initiated, and Reyes scans the jail, taking a mental note of everyone present and all the possible exits. There was only one. The guard who was leaving is stopped.

"You. What did you see?" She asks him.

He is silent.

"I'm talking to you!"

He runs into the hall, just out of sight, and several officers go after him. "Damn it!" one of them shouts.

"Where the hell is he?" Another says.

"Don't let him out of your sight!" Reyes shouts.

One of the prisoners shouts at her. "Look behind the desk." She glances and sees a hand barely visible. She goes around and finds a body hidden under there. The body of the guard they're chasing.

The officers come back. No one seems to have noticed that there is one more of them. Nor do they notice him slip away when they see the body of the man they were chasing.

"Looks like we found him. How the hell?"

"He's still out there." She said, running outside.

10:13 PM, Comity Inn, Milton Vermont

Doggett is sitting in a chair, and Shannon McMahon is on the bed. They have Chinese takeout boxes spread out.

"So people are dying, and we're just talking?" Doggett says. "I know what you and what you can do."

"Then you know that I was made by men, certain men. The men who made Knowle."

Doggett nods, some noodles hanging out his mouth.

"We aren't alien. But Agent Mulder wasn't all wrong. But there's something coming, you could say, Doomsday. The date is set, and time is running out. For all of us."

"What happens on this Doomsday?"

"The world belongs to The Superman, to those who made the choice. We aren't all Knowle Rohrer, John."

"What are you saying, that I need to be a Super Soldier?"

"I'm saying you need to understand The Method. That everything has been building to. That the future is coming, and you cannot fight it."

"No, you can. It can be fought."

"Last I heard, you were a rent-a-cop for an overblown hotel. Not exactly a freedom fighter."

"Last I heard, you weren't one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"I'm still me, John. I resisted. There will always be a resistance."

"You just said you can't fight it."

"You can't. But you can survive it. Do this, and you can make a difference."

"I thought you just wanted to talk. And wanted to tell me something. Not act like The Godfather and make me an offer I can't wait to refuse."

"Okay. The timetable has changed. Certain flaws were uncovered with the Knowle Rohrer incident, flaws that require some revision to the plan. The date was set, December 21, 2012. Winter Solstice. This has not changed."

"Go on."

"That's still the date of activation. After that, the attack will occur. Doomsday. The last great extinction. Your end."

"My end?"

"Humanity's end. Only a few will survive, and those who will, they will never die. It truly will be the last great extinction. Then, they will rule. You know who they are."

"Yeah, I think I know them. Last I heard, the head honcho ate a missile for breakfast."

"He's one man, John. One man doesn't change anything."

"One man is all the world needs. If I'm going to die in this, thing, well, that's my choice. That's the end of it."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She picks up her fortune cookie. "You should read yours."

Doggett breaks his cookie open.

" _You seek meaning and truth, and it will be yours."_


	6. Act IV

Act IV

10:34 PM Wilkes Memorial

A nurse was adjusting the near-dead man's position. Skinner was still unwillingly in the room with the intimidating man.

"The answer is no."

"After all of this? You still resist?"

"This man is dead. Trust me, it's better this way."

"Then I can't let you leave. Until we get a better answer." He punches Skinner in the gut.

"You have your answer. You're gonna have to let me go or kill me."

A gasp comes from the mouth of the faceless man in the bed.

"Assistant…Director…" he breathes out slowly. This startles everyone in the room.

"He spoke." Said the angry man.

"The son of a bitch IS alive." Skinner said.

"Not…him. He goes." Cancer Man says.

"Get him out of here!" Angry Man says.

"I will see you in Hell!" Skinner shouts at CSM as the nurse pulls him out.

11:02 PM

Reyes is trying to follow the trail of the shapechanger. She's watched his movements, even though he's changed his appearance many times. He's still wearing the guard's clothes, which makes it a little easier. Finally, her chase has ended. He's gone.

Then from behind her, she is grabbed, and thrown down to the ground. The bounty hunter is standing over her.

"You should give up."

"To hell with you!"

"My struggle is not with you. Give up, and you will be spared." He turns around and walks away. All Reyes can do is stare.

11:58 PM, Milton Vermont

Shannon McMahon is walking toward her car. A pair of binoculars can be seen in the distance. She gets in and drives, and another car starts following with the lights off. She takes some backroads away from the city, but soon discovers that her brake cables are cut. She's driving at high speed with little control, but still manages to keep in control of the car. The pursuit ends with someone in the following car shooting out her tire, causing the car to spin out of control and crash into a brick wall. Two men jump out of the pursuing car, one of them holding a syringe. The other man has strange protrusions on his neck. He goes to her car, and rips the door right off, and she tries to grab him. He holds her down long enough for the other man to inject her with something. She falls limp.

April 8, 9:01 AM, FBI Headquarters

Reyes, Tolson, Skinner, and the Director are in a meeting.

"I'm sure you all heard the news last night, about A.D. Follmer. Agent Reyes." He looked at her, and nodded sympathetically.

"I was not made aware."

"The former Assistant Director was murdered last night. Agent Reyes here was present and pursued the attacker."

Reyes responds. "He was assassinated. Prior to his murder, he met with me and stated his intention to plea guilty. He asked me to be present this morning, he said he had some information regarding our case and the mob. The killer was…a man of many faces." She hesitated and tried to intentionally be vague there. The Director didn't quite follow. "He came in dressed like a priest, he left disguised as an officer. He…changed his appearance…easily. I pursued him, but he escaped."

"Have you sent out his description?"

"Sir, that wouldn't be…useful. He's good at disguising himself."

"Agent?"

"The police are already doing it."

"Good. Assistant Director, how is your shoulder doing?"

"It's fine."

"They tell me you were attacked and disappeared yesterday, only to show up in the middle of the night."

"I have questions about that myself."

"What happened?"

"What you said. I was attacked, the agents didn't notice, and I went after the suspect. I did not find him, but I met…an old acquaintance at the hospital. We were talking over dinner."

"And you, Agent Tolson. What were you doing in Vermont yesterday?"

"Agent Reyes and I were following a lead. It will be in my report."

"What did you find?"

"A dead end."

"So you wasted a day in this investigation while Assistant Directors were being attacked?"

"No, sir. I believe it was worth pursuing. Even if it was a red herring."

"I am disappointed. While you were out playing, agents Curtis and Alley have died. Now, is there anything else any of you would like to add? No? Then we're done."

They all got up to leave except Assistant Director Skinner. When the agents were done, he spoke to the director.

"You know these events are extraordinary. And the agents' reports will reflect that."

"I expect them to report the truth."

"This counter-terrorism assignment, it's not enough. I think what we need is The X-Files."

"You mean, you need Agent Mulder."

"I mean I need someone in that office."

"Assistant Director, let me be frank. There is a war going on. Our attention doesn't need to be on chasing Dracula around. I ordered this investigation so we could keep our attention there. The X-Files is closed."

"Sir, I think you're wrong. We need this. It is a matter of national security, and only that division is suited for this investigation."

"You have a division suited to that investigation now. It isn't The X-Files. But they answer to you, and you answer to me. Not another Assistant Director, not the Deputy Directors. As far as anyone is concerned, this is your show and it's a counter-terrorism project. But if anyone asks, it's classified. Only you, me, and these agents are to know about this operation."

"Understood."

"Is that all?"

"One more thing."

9:48 AM

Tolson is carrying a stack of boxes toward an office. He opens the door, trying not to drop them, when Reyes holds it open for him. He comes in and sees someone sitting at the desk already.

He throws down the boxes on the desk and sees John Doggett.

"What's he doing in my office?" Tolson asked.

"The way I see it, it's my office." Doggett holds out his FBI badge.

"Skinner's orders?"

"The Director insisted."

"I never would have thought you would take an offer like that."

"I guess I'm a sucker like that."

"So, our plan for the day?" Reyes asked.

"Agent Mulder. He's in danger." Doggett said.

Somewhere in France, Scully is drinking a glass of wine and writing on a laptop.

"Do I miss it? I ask myself that over and over, like an eternal puzzle where I wonder about the life that could have been. I have travelled the world with this man, now, and he has shown me things no other person alive, or who ever lived, could have known. Because I know we are not alone, but that doesn't mean I don't feel as though we are.

We pursued the darkness as far as we could, shining our flashlights together in the darkest crevices of the world looking for monsters, looking for a devil that was always there. It was Nietzsche who warned us that when you stare into the abyss too long, the abyss stares back at you, and I wonder what has become of us for that.

This feels like a dream now. Sitting here with a glass of wine feeling like something out of an old novel, but knowing the world is not what it seems. Mulder doesn't want to give up, but he's changing. Growing withdrawn, and I don't know what to do about it. Still he searches, but he's in the dark. He won't even come out here and just take the world in. He hasn't been outside in weeks. He's…"

She's cut off when she sees him approaching.

"…coming this way right now."

"Can you believe the service in this place? I got flipped off twice on the way here, and someone threw some change at me."

Mulder was unshaven and a bit of a mess, but looking at Scully, he looked alive.

"Mulder? Look at you." She said, slightly grinning.

"You know, I've done some thinking. The truth, it's still out there. But maybe, once in awhile, I need to be, too."

"Are you looking for the monsters still?"

"For tonight, I'll let someone else chase the monsters. Come on, let's get out of here."

He took her to a field, and they just laid back, looking up at the stars, Mulder pointing out excitedly at Saturn, and anticipating the coming meteor shower.


	7. Afterword

After I wrote Beyond The Truth, I took an excessively long break. In that time, The X-Files returned first as a comic book, and then as a revival of the series. The role of an unofficial tenth season seemed a little uncertain then.

There is a scene in the episode My Struggle II where the fate of Agent Reyes is revealed, and in Beyond The Truth I expanded on her character to give her a bigger role. The more I thought about that scene and my story, I realized they not only did not contradict, but played into each other. I came to realize, at least in my unofficial fictional take, how this came to happen.

So Dining With a Devil serves many roles, as both the sequel to Beyond The Truth and as a prequel to My Struggle I/II. This means that I could emphasize parts of the new revival's plot and tie them directly to the existing mythology. This also let me set up the Doomsday Clock story arc, which you'll learn more about as I write it, and will provide a direct bridge between the original series and the revival.

So I had a bit of fun with the writing here, but there is a big problem with a story like this. The X-Files has had some episodes that were not action-based, not even full investigations, but they often, like in Memento Mori, attempted to put in a mystery and action scenes to keep it from being boring. This story's theme is exposition and talking, it's all setup for a fictional season. There was a lot of talking in Beyond The Truth, but the majority of Dining With a Devil is sitting and talking. It's hard to effectively jam in action scenes and exposition, and I don't know if I did a decent enough job. I think the opening scene might be a bit jarring, but I think I got the mix right.

Bringing in characters was a little bit of a challenge. I didn't want to make an all-star episode, but I felt there was room for some returning faces. The Bounty Hunter was an obvious choice, as well as my cure for writer's block. He's keeping up his old mission, but he's specifically assigned to cleanup after the incident in New Orleans, even though nobody but Reyes knows what they were looking at. There is a risk that a project is going to be exposed, so he's dealing with it. The next link seemed obvious in hindsight, that is, bringing back Follmer for one last show. I killed off Kersh, but didn't follow up with Follmer because I assumed his story was done. However he was involved in organized crime, which played a big part in the previous episode. He was also the only thing that could get Reyes to abandon Doggett in Vermont. I also wanted to set up how Reyes could be summoned and manipulated by someone. Adding Follmer also allowed for some parallel themes. Follmer parallels both the opening teaser as well as Skinner's tale.

There was one bad guy, however, who had to come back, and I had a huge question to deal with: how the Hell did he survive? Well, I found an interesting answer to that: The Bounty Hunter. Early on it was established that certain alien characters such as Jeremiah Smith could heal. It's also established that Jeremiah Smith and those like him are related to the Bounty Hunters, who also have healing abilities. The Bounty Hunters are healers of a sort, but CSM was especially challenging. He is alive, barely, kept going on machines and regular treatments by aliens. This is why he is alive, but horribly disfigured, in My Struggle II.

Shannon McMahon was such an underused character, but I didn't have a lot of room to use her, either. Her role is mostly actionless except for a car chase scene. I wanted to give her motivation, that she's half-way in the conspiracy, but working against it her own way. Her exit is meant to be ambiguous, after all, it's The X-Files.

The title is Dining With a Devil, not The Devil, because as you've seen, it's not just about Skinner having dinner with Cancer Man. The theme of the entire episode is characters forced to sit and listen to their rivals, and being offered an opportunity. There are many devils, there's Cancer Man, Follmer, McMahon, The Director, even Tolson in one scene. These scenes all follow the premise of characters having to take sides. This, of course, is building toward Reyes' arc. In Follmer's scene, Follmer justifies his actions and suggests to Reyes that she might one day have to make a deal with a devil, for the greater good. For Doggett, he resists Tolson's notion that the job meant sacrificing Mulder and Scully, and he resists McMahon's mysterious offer to join her, but he succumbs offscreen to an offer by the Director to return to the FBI. As for Tolson, he might already have had his offer in the last story, or maybe not. To further the point of dealing with devils, a little reference to I Want To Believe comes from The Bounty Hunter, who tells Reyes to just give up. Which according to Mulder, is exactly what the Devil would tell you to do.

I chose to end it in a somewhat shipper-like way, with a touching scene between Mulder and Scully, and Scully's famous monologues. I felt after two episodes of keeping the main characters away, it was a fitting closure to bring them back and show, yeah, they're okay. Mulder is slowly becoming the Mulder we see in I Want To Believe, and Scully is facing her own crossroads: keep being part of Mulder's quest, or live a normal life. It's a simple scene, and it ends with a bit of hope that's totally Mulder-like: Mulder can still look into the stars, and still dream and be excited by what's out there, even knowing what he knows. That love and passion hasn't been extinguished by his work. I thought that was a perfect way to end it.


End file.
